Meaning & Analysis
Food or drink that tastes pleasant when first eaten can later cause discomfort, indigestion, or an unpleasant aftertaste in the stomach.
Insights
Immediate Gratification vs. Delayed Harm
Warns that immediate pleasures and instant gratification often lead to delayed negative consequences. An action that feels good in the moment can result in long-term regret, harm, or suffering.
Deceptive Appearances
Illustrates the theme of deceptive appearances, suggesting that things, people, or situations that seem appealing and delightful on the surface may reveal a hidden, unpleasant, or corrupt nature over time.
The Perils of Indulgence
Serves as a caution against all forms of excess and hedonism. Indulging too much in something pleasurable—be it wealth, passion, or luxury—will inevitably lead to a negative or painful outcome.
Superficial Allure vs. True Nature
Highlights the difference between initial attraction and lasting substance. An idea or relationship might be exciting at the outset but prove to be fundamentally flawed or unsustainable upon deeper experience.
Moral and Religious Allegory
The proverb serves as a powerful moral and religious allegory, echoing biblical warnings against the deceptive allure of sin. The initial sweetness represents fleeting worldly pleasures, while the subsequent sourness symbolizes the inevitable spiritual or moral corruption and suffering that follow.
Psychological Foresight
This proverb encapsulates the psychological tension between the 'pleasure principle' (seeking immediate gratification) and the 'reality principle' (understanding and accepting delayed negative consequences). It acts as a cognitive shorthand, reminding individuals to exercise foresight and self-control.
Literary and Social Warning
Shakespeare's use of a similar concept in 'A Lover's Complaint'—'His taste delicious, in digestion souring'—highlights the proverb's application to seduction and betrayal. The initial charm of a person or proposal can mask underlying bitterness and eventual heartbreak.
Physiological Metaphor
The proverb masterfully uses a common physiological experience—indigestion after eating something overly sweet—as a universally understood metaphor for the negative outcomes of any form of overindulgence, whether emotional, financial, or physical.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
The proverb is built on the stark contrast between 'sweet' and 'sour' and 'mouth' and 'maw', creating a memorable and powerful opposition that emphasizes the core message of deceptive initial impressions.
Metaphor
It uses the concrete, physical experience of taste and digestion as a metaphor for the abstract and complex process of making life choices and experiencing their long-term outcomes.
Sensory Imagery
The use of strong taste-related words ('sweet', 'sour', 'bitter') creates vivid sensory imagery, making the abstract warning feel tangible and visceral to the listener.
Transcription
Quotations
(is oft bitter at the heart).
(is bitter in the stomick).
This volume wil be sweet in the palates of your mindes, though your mouthes may finde it bitter in your digestion.
Your banquet seems sweet in your liquorous palate, It shall be sure to turn gall in your maw.
But these waters are . . sweet in the palate, bitter in the stomach.
That is not always good in the maw that is sweet in the mouth.
What’s good in the Mouth, may be bad in the Maw.
Shakespeare Citations
His taste delicious, in digestion sour.
Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.